Electric Baseboard

CAN SOMEONE ANSWER THESE TWO QUESTIONS FOR ME?

I AM CONNECTING TWO ELECTRIC BASEBOARD HEATERS TO ONE THERMOSTAT. SHOULD I BRING BOTH WIRES FROM THE HEATERS TO THE THERMOSTAT OR WIRE THE HEATERS TOGETHER AND THEN BRING ONE FEED TO THE THERMOSTAT.

ALSO I AM WIRING A BATHROOM FAN AND A LIGHT TO THE SAME BREAKER AS THE OUTLETS WICH HAVE A GFCI. THE GFCI IS FIRST IN LINE,AND THE FAN AND LIGHT ARE LAST. MY QUESTION IS DOES IT MATTER IF I USE 12/2 WIRE OR 14/2 WIRE .

 

As far as the heaters are concerned you will need to connect per the manufacturers directions. Is the thermostat rated to handle both of the heaters? Did you purchase the thermostat, did you install the heaters? What's the voltage of the heaters and what voltage does the thermostat control, that would tell us how they might be connected. Another idea might be to go the manufacturers website if they have one and look for info there if you don't have it.

As for the bathroom and the GFI. It's not a good idea to put lighting on a gfi circuit. Further, it would be a violation of the National Electrical code. GFI circuits in the bathrooms are intended to protect the receptacles in the bathrooms. Now the code requires that we run a speparate circuit for those bathroom GFI's and we can't put other things on them.The way I read what you wrote you are saying that there is a GFI receptacle in the bathroom and you are going to get your power from that receptacle.

Depending on the age of your house, if it's new, it will have a 12 guage run for the bathroom GFI's. If it is an older house the GFI circuit could be in 14 guage, the only way to be sure is to look at the wire that is there now and try to determine what size it is. 14 bends really easy and 12 guage doesn't bend easy at all.

I would try and find another circuit to feed that fan light combo with. I always make it a practice not to place any lights or motor loads on a gfi circuit unless there is absolutely no way around it and it doesn't violate code. Motors and lights tend to cause nuisance tripping of the gfi. This may not sound like much of a problem since the gfi is located where you will put the fan light combo but, repeated tripping will shorten the life of the gfi.

 

first things first,,, you need to add the wattage of both heaters together and make sure the thermostat is rated for it. Its not generally a good idea to wire bath fans and lights after gfci,,, if it trips you are in the dark. As for wire size,, 12 when using 20 A breaker and 14 for a 15

 

Thanks for the reply. I will make sure I wire the light and fan to another power source.
As for the voltage or wattage of the heaters and what the thermostat can handle I will get back to you on that.